Louderblog

Diary of a Blind Madman

Today's Lyric:
I pawned my sword and I pawned my chain
Well I pawned myself but I fell to shame
I tried to see you in the fall
When you didn't have no man at all
I'd love to meet you in the spring when the bluebird's almost ready to sing
Faree, honey, faree well

East St. Louis BluesBlind Willie McTell

Recently Played Songs:
My day snowed in has progressed quite uneventfully. I spent most of my time watching Grendel, Kull, and a few old episodes of Andromeda. That left me with a surfeit of Kevin Sorbo and a strong distaste for whoever is taking responsibility for Grendel. It is the sort of movie that doesn't have Credits but rather Blame. Once in a while I wish someone who makes the Beowulf story would read the bleeding poem. Apart from utterly ignoring the author's efforts the movie was not bad. I though the casting good and the acting adequate. The story, though not that of Beowulf, worked for me. It was a bit formulaic. The writers got stuck on the word "mighty" for a while. I hate that.

I've been listening to the Blues when not watching TV. I've explored a couple of rather old artists that I either never knew of or had forgotten. Blind Willie McTell (lyrics above) is one of these. Bessie Smith is another. My enatic grandmother was named Bessie. I think they stopped naming kids that shortly after she was born. You don't meet any 6-year-old Bessies anymore, nor any Sadies.

I have been doing more writing of late than I have for a long time. It is only the freewriting that I do here, but that counts for a lot with me. I am, at least, putting things on paper again. I post the freewriting to louderprose should you want to see these efforts gathered in a single place.

Nothing more tonight. Some quick freewriting and I'm gone.

FreewritingI knew my days at the boarding house were numbered. I knew it the first day when Mrs. Reedy introduced me, and my fellow new arrival Paul to Mrs. Bainbridge in the hallway. She drew a sharp distinction with both word and tone, informing Mrs. Bainbridge that I was the new Boarder and Paul was a roomer. You could hear the capital "B" in Boarder and the implied "only" in (lower case) roomer. Why it mattered to her where Paul took his meals, that being the distinction between a boarder and a roomer, I cannot imagine. My needs for meals were simple and I would likely be taking only breakfast at Mrs. Reedy's  something I made quite clear to her. I nevertheless learned after a few days that I had earned her silent ire by not appearing for lunch or supper. "Boarders," I was told with proper capitalization and emphasis by a fellow Boarder, one Willis Dover, "typically appear at the meals for which they pay." According to Mrs. Reedy, I paid for three meals a day and she would, therefore, set a place for me (and prepare and discard uneaten food) at all three meals. This knowledge was dispensed with the soup as Mrs. Reedy presided over the evening meal from her throne-like chair at the head of the table. This rigidity was typical of the woman and was, as I was to learn, only the tip of the iceberg.